Journalist/author Yasha Levine returns to the podcast, talking about the unproven Trump/Russia narrative and the media malpractice promoting it.Levine, an American citizen who was born in Russia, studied computer science at UC Berkeley before becoming a journalist. His new book, Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet, will be published in February. The article we refer to in The Baffler, From Russia with Panic, is here.

With a firm grasp of the technical and political elements of the Russiagate narrative, Levine offers sharp criticism of the spooks, scribes and politicians who embrace this unproven conspiracy theory. We talk about the smearing of former NSA tech director Bill Binney by Rachel Maddow and James Risen, and how the tale of international intrigue has shifted to a more mundane story of corruption by Trump and his cronies.

Levine notes that the weak claims that Facebook and Twitter were "weaponized" by Russia to defeat Clinton have led to censorship of independent media outlets--especially those that challenge the MSM narrative--and the big tech firms are being threatened with regulation by Sen. Feinstein and others. And we discuss how the actual collusion of the Trump campaign with a foreign power was with Israel, not Russia.